Sef Albertz
Sef gathers that vast spectrum of the human spirit that allows, in Art, to confront and fraternize tradition with the audacious of contemporaneity to create a cosmopolitan vision of Venezuelan identity”. These words of the acclaimed Venezuelan Maestro Alirio Díaz describe the essentiality, which consistently distinguishes the multifaceted compositional work of his fellow countryman Sef Albertz (* 1971).
Sef Albertz in focus
In the own words of Sef Albertz:
My compositional style is an intercultural amalgam, where extramusical influences, the rethinking of tradition and my own system of sound organisation challenge the audience without disturbing the listening. Everything in my life is a composition, a creative process that always brings in itself something beautiful, deep and stimulating at the same time. It’s my ‘life maxim’. So, quite consciously, I can say that I’m in a full-time occupation. Composing is my passion.
Sef Albertz
A comprehensive events calendar 2024
Universal Edition is pleased to collaborate closely with Ms. Maak in disseminating the work of Sef Albertz, whose music is praised for the "delightful combination of progressive and traditional elements, southern temperament and profundity" (MDR Presse).
Framing the wide range of events around the creative work of our composer in focus, Universal Edition hosts the opening event featuring a lecture with music during the Leipzig Book Fair in March. A piano recital at the Bösendorfer Salon in Vienna's Musikverein at the end of November will be the closing event.
Below an overview of events through 2024:
Maak & Albertz at work “A great composer...a fantastic performer...a powerful work!” (Conductor Kristjan Järvi)
January
✦ 08/01 Publication of the anthologies «Resplendences around Bach» and «In the Secret of the World» including Sef Albertz’s piano music recorded by pianist Anna-Maria Maak, on the two highly praised self-titled albums.
February
✦ 23/02 Single Release N° 1 from upcoming Album «Sef Albertz: Bunch of Strings» A Trilogy Con Guitarra!
March
✦ 22/03 «Sound as a Metaphor for Life - The composer Sef Albertz in Focus» Lecture with live music at the Leipzig Book Fair
✦ 22/03 Single Release N° 2 from upcoming Album «Sef Albertz: Bunch of Strings» A Trilogy Con Guitarra!
✦ 23/03 «What we talk about when we speak about rhythm - Sound & Body» Panel discussion at Leipzig Book Fair
April
✦ 04/04 On Composer Sef Albertz - Text publication in the cultural magazine KulturPort.de
✦ 18/04 «Sound as a Metaphor for Life - The composer Sef Albertz in Focus» Lecture I, Leipzig City Library
✦ 19/04 Single Release N° 3 from upcoming Album «Sef Albertz: Bunch of Strings» A Trilogy Con Guitarra!
May
✦ 07/05 «Sound as a Metaphor for Life - The composer Sef Albertz in Focus» Lecture II, Leipzig City Library
✦ 17/05 Album Release «Sef Albertz: Bunch of Strings» A Trilogy Con Guitarra!
✦ 22 & 24/05 Concert with Albertz’s reimagined version of Mendelssohn’s «Lieder ohne Worte», Camerata - Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra & Karin Schaupp (Soloist) - Queensland Performing Arts Centre & The Empire Theatre (Australia)
✦ 30/05 «Sound as a Metaphor for Life - The composer Sef Albertz in Focus» Lecture III, Leipzig City Library
June
✦ 14/06 Video Release «Space of Dreams»
✦ 18/06 Sef Albertz plays the world premiere of his new guitar cycle «...was man mir einst erzählte!», Leipzig City Library
July
✦ 26/07 Album Review of «Sef Albertz: Bunch of Strings» A Trilogy Con Guitarra! in German magazine Akustik Gitarre
August
✦ 20/08 «Sound as a Metaphor for Life - The composer Sef Albertz in Focus» Lecture IV, Leipzig City Library
September
✦ 14/09 Piano Recital with the world premiere of Albertz‘s new full evening piano cycle «Some Enlightened Alleys», “art Kapella” Schkeuditz
October
✦ 12/10 Piano Recital in Hamburg
✦ 18 & 19/10 Piano Recital and Workshop, “Max Reger” Music Conservatory Meiningen
✦ 25/10 «Sound as a Metaphor for Life - The composer Sef Albertz in Focus» Lecture at the Regional Conference in “Robert Schumann” Music Conservatory Zwickau
November
✦ 04/11 Piano Recital, naTo Leipzig
✦ 15/11 Piano Recital, TONALi Hamburg
✦ 22/11 Piano Recital, Bösendorfer Salon in Vienna's Musikverein
More events are to come!
World premieres in concert
Together with pianist Anna-Maria Maak, Sef Albertz has conceived an interdisciplinary piano recital: A “sea” of ideas and expressions in which listeners can immerse themselves in the artistic phenomenon of music in an exciting, accessible and novel way.
Schumann, Estévez, Albertz: a luminous encounter of three sound creators whose initial letters form together the word SEA! «Some Enlightened Alleys».
Anna-Maria Maak will premiere this cycle at the beginning of September in Schkeuditz, followed by performances in Berlin, Leipzig, Meiningen, Munich, Hamburg, Vienna, etc. Universal Edition will publish the scores of this new piano cycle in autumn 2024. Moreover, the composer himself, who is also an outstanding performer on the guitar, will be presenting a new cycle of pieces for his instrument inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's heart-warming story “The Little Prince”.
New album
NEW ALBUM
After devoting himself entirely to writing works for other instruments and ensembles, Sef Albertz has so returned to his original instrument - the guitar - not only with this new, large-scale composition, but also with a new album release dedicated to the six-stringed instrument: With “Bunch of Strings” - A Trilogy Con Guitarra!, Sef Albertz expands the spectrum of the guitar, not only in terms of sound, but also in terms of repertoire.
The starting point of the Trilogy is his three-movement work «...alla
Bach!» (in
the style of Bach): a conscious search for the musical presence of the great
Thomaskantor (Church Cantor of St. Thomas) from Leipzig.
Then, with compositional reinterpretations - unprecedented in the repertoire of the instrument - Albertz constructs a chamber music dialogue of the guitar with itself and, subsequently, with the string instruments, based on two milestones of music: Robert Schumann’s «Kinderszenen» (Children’s Scenes), in a version for guitar quartet, and Felix Mendelssohn’s «Lieder ohne Worte» (Songs without Words), an adaptation for guitar and strings.
The full album will be released digitally on 17 May, anticipated by three single releases on 23 February, 22 March and 19 April.
Voices from the classical guitar world have expressed their satisfaction about the forthcoming album, describing Albertz's interpretative and compositional skills as:
- "...an excellent work [...] undoubtedly extraordinary!"
(Leo Brouwer: Cuban composer and guitarist - leading figure in the guitar world)
- "It sounds absolutely wonderful. Congratulations to the arrangement and to your beautiful playing!"
(Göran Söllscher: Swedish guitarist, Prof. Malmö Academy of Music - Lund University, Deutsche Grammophon Artist)
- "What a wonderful piece of work! [...] I am looking forward to playing it"
(Karin Schaupp: Australian guitarist, Head of the Classical Guitar Department at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University)
New music score publications and other relevant works
In addition to the future publications of the cycles «Some Enlightened Alleys» and «...was man mir einst erzählte!», Universal Edition has already released in early January 2024 the piano music of Sef Albertz recorded on the two successful albums by pianist Anna-Maria Maak: «Resplendences around Bach» and «In the Secret of the World». These are 2 separate books of music scores accompanied by beautiful photos and texts: “Albertz's music is modern, distinctive, with finely structured sound and pianistically tailored to the instrument” (PIANONews Magazine).
«The World through Emilia’s Dreams» for Orchestra (and Piano Obligato)
Duration: 15 min.
Commissioned by the Kammerphilharmonie der Universität Stuttgart.
FIRST PERFORMANCE: February 15, 2020 | Bürgersaal Vaihingen (Stuttgart)
Anna-Maria Maak (Piano) & the Kammerphilharmonie der Universität Stuttgart
«…con ecos de otras voces, desde lejos desde muy lejos» for Ensemble
Duration: 8 min.
(With echoes of other voices, from afar, from far away)
Commissioned by the Regional Government of Andalusia & Manuel de Falla Chair.
WORLD
PREMIERE: XVI Spanish Music Festival of Cádiz | November 26th, 2018.
«Ludovicus and the Allegories of the Sea» for Piano
Duration: 10 min.
Premiered by pianist Anna-Maria Maak on December 14th, 2019 as part of the Germany-wide initiative ‘Beethoven bei uns’.
Recorded on Anna-Maria Maak’s concept album ‘In the Secret of the World’
Label Florentyn Music (Catalogue number: FM-CD 2101)